Rent-A-Thug #130 – Rules For Criminal Success #94
I rejiggered this joke from the original wording that I had jotted down when I thought of it (likely at one in the morning, which is inexplicably when I tend to think of things). Originally it was “taking a bullet for somebody is stupid. Noble, but stupid”, but that wasn’t particularly funny and it didn’t jive with the general style of Rent-A-Thug. Not a single one of my characters would take a bullet for somebody, they would dive for cover. That line of thinking led to the strip that you’ve just read.
This update is much earlier in the day than normal because I’m going to play Rock Band tonight and won’t be home when I would usually update. A possibly interesting factoid about my updates: my update time (which is usually at some point between 7 PM and 9 PM, Mountain time) was chosen specifically because it maximizes my exposure and traffic from The Webcomic List, which is the comic promotion site that I get the most traffic from by a wide margin.
In other non-Rent-A-Thug news, a friend brought to my attention the furor that has arisen from the contracts posted for the Manga Pilots program by Tokyopop. Long story short, their “pact” is horse shit. It makes me sad, as a creator, that so many others are willing to sign away all of their rights for shit money (a $750 one-time payment for a 24-36 page story, according to Christopher Butcher). Seriously: COMIC COMPANIES WILL CONTINUE TO SCREW CREATORS AS LONG AS CREATORS ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE SCREWED. Lea Hernandez’s livejournal page provides a lot of links to more indepth discussions of the Tokyopop contract specifically. Bryan Lee O’Malley, of Scott Pilgrim fame, provides my favourite description of why the Tokyopop contract is a gigantic “fuck you” to creators, which you can read here. You should read it, it’s very, very good advice. And hilarious hostile.
That’s it from me today, thanks for reading and see you on Friday!
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